Foreshadowing
by MomentarySetback
Summary: When the only witness to a murder is a particularly adorable baby, Calleigh and Eric are prompted to consider the future. One-shot.


**A/N: **This idea just kinda reared up and bit me one day…I had to write it! It takes place after Calleigh and Eric have been together for a little while…somewhere ahead, like in season 8.

* * *

Eric Delko had no idea how he found himself in this situation. His job had certainly put him in some unusual predicaments, but processing a baby in the crime lab definitely took the cake.

And actually, he did have some semblance of an idea. He and Ryan had been the first on the scene and when they realized a baby was their only witness Ryan had held his hands up definitively and muttered, "Don't look at me."

The baby had become his piece of the case, and he'd be lying if he said that he minded. If he was being completely honest, he'd actually wanted to be responsible for her. This needed to be done right. No mistakes.

He desperately wanted to find this killer. How evil did a person have to be to shoot a mother and leave a tiny baby girl to crawl through her own mother's blood?

It was sick, but he was far more angered than repulsed. He and Ryan had walked in on the chaos: Miami police everywhere roping off the house, social services demanding to get inside, cops yelling something about preserving the crime scene… And then Eric and Ryan had been allowed inside.

Blood covered almost half the couch. The mother lay still in an awkward position, three gun shot wounds covering her chest. A little blonde baby, old enough to crawl but not walk, was sitting on the couch. She had blood all over her, and the whole couch was covered in blood smears and tiny bloody handprints. Her chest still hiccupped and shook with sobs, but Eric was sure she'd cried herself out long ago. She glanced at her mother again, rocking forward onto her hands to crawl over once again. It was then that Eric noticed the small bloody handprints all over the mother; the baby had tried to wake her.

He almost vomited. He had to turn away, towards the hallway where no one could see his face. Lowering his head, he willed himself to keep it together, softly mumbling a prayer in Spanish.

Eric had made it his mission to lock up whoever would do something this sick. He'd bagged her clothes at the scene, knowing they'd be compromised if he waited, and sent them to Natalia for processing. All the while, Ava Lawrence had reached up her tiny, chubby arms, desperate for someone to hold her. Eric was surprised by his urge to comfort her and regretted the fact that he couldn't get too close. She needed the skin-to-skin comfort that babies craved and he hated that he couldn't get close to her without gloves. Holding her and touching her could change any evidence he may potentially find, and he wasn't going to take any chances.

Now, he was gently rubbing swabs over her hands, legs, and face, taking several samples to make sure the blood all belonged to the mother. He was trying to find something, anything, to lead them to the killer.

Ava had been nearly perfect at the beginning, but now she was growing tired of being touched and prodded without receiving any real comfort. She kept trying to put her fingers in her mouth and Eric had to keep pushing them away. Despite his soft, reassuring words he knew he was the bad guy. And when he placed her head just so and held it there to comb through her hair for trace, that was the last straw.

Her unhappy protests now turned into cries and screams.

"I'm sorry, honey," he soothed, brushing a glove-covered hand against her cheek to no avail. Her cries continued no matter what he did; she was simply fed up, and he couldn't blame her.

Sighing, he paged his last resort with one simple word: help.

Through blood-curdling screams he managed to wipe her hands clean; he was finished with processing most of her and figured that at the very least she could now have her hands free. Little Ava wrapped her tiny hand around one of his large fingers immediately, but she continued to wail, her green eyes seemingly pleading with him.

"I know, sweetheart," he sympathized, finally taking her into his arms. It wasn't the best idea, but he was nearly finished processing her and he knew she needed the comfort. He'd been waiting to hold her and soothe her all morning, knowing she had been through an unthinkable trauma she didn't even understand.

"Oh dear…" came a voice from the doorway amidst Ava's cries and screams. Eric looked up, smiling just a little at his very amused girlfriend slash co-worker slash best friend.

"She won't stop crying," Eric admitted, glancing down at little Ava. Her cheeks were bright pink and her eyes were splotchy, but she didn't seem to have any intention of stopping anytime soon. "She just needed to be held this morning, but we had to process her…and now she's stressed out and cranky..."

"So you paged me…" Calleigh finished for him, her eyes widening as she understood. Eric hadn't paged her as a co-worker, really; he'd paged her as his girlfriend because he'd seen her softer side, because he knew she could be nurturing and soothing and all the things she thought she wasn't.

Eric ducked his head sheepishly, watching Ava to avoid Calleigh's interrogating eyes. "I just thought maybe you could get her to stop crying," he said softly, hesitantly. "So I can finish this up, maybe find something to nail this guy," he added for good measure.

"Eric, I…I'm not the best person to come to about babies. Maybe you should get Alexx or…" But as Calleigh was talking, Ava seemed to gravitate toward her voice, her tiny arms reaching in Calleigh's direction.

"Looks like you'll do just fine." Eric smirked, gently passing Ava into Calleigh's reluctant arms before she could even manage a protest. "I'll be right back. I have to get some more small evidence bags."

And with that he was gone, leaving Calleigh with a now quieter but still very upset baby. Ava clung to her lab coat and Calleigh immediately went soft at the center, her heart going out to this beautiful little baby who had been through more in the past four hours than anyone should have to endure.

"Pretty girl," she soothed, beginning to bounce the baby gently in a motion that came to her more naturally than she would have liked to admit. "Don't cry, sweetie."

To Calleigh's surprise the wails turned to less piercing sobs, and she continued to rock her, walking slowly in a circle around the room. "Today has been a bad day, huh?" she asked Ava, receiving another sob in response. "I know, baby," Calleigh whispered. With her hand on Ava's back, she began to smooth her palm up and down the baby's back in a comforting motion. It worked, she noted; Ava's sobs now faded into displeased baby talk and the occasional hiccup.

"You are gorgeous, aren't you?" she asked her, brushing her knuckles against the baby's deep pink cheeks. In response Ava lifted both hands to her face, a hand on each of Calleigh's cheeks, and Calleigh drew her close, resting her forehead against the baby's.

Eric nearly dropped the evidence bags at the sight before him. He had long ago come to terms with the way he felt about Calleigh and the ideas he sometimes had about their future, but seeing Calleigh with a baby brought those dreams to a whole new level.

Ava had been screaming bloody murder when Eric left, but now she was sitting happily against Calleigh's hip, tucked against her body, their foreheads pressed together. And Calleigh said babies weren't her thing?

He was smirking slightly as he entered the room, Calleigh immediately straightening up at his presence in an attempt to get back into work mode. He said nothing as he stepped up to them, but as his eyes met Calleigh's she smiled just a little.

Lifting the small comb to Ava's wispy blonde hair, he began to comb through it again, this time with much more ease. Ava was still engrossed in Calleigh, and had reached a tiny hand out to toy with the ends of her long hair.

Calleigh smiled and Eric allowed himself to become distracted enough to watch the two of them. "Her mother was a blonde," he told Calleigh wistfully.

"Like mother like daughter," she noted lightly, though her eyes darkened slightly at the mention of the baby's mother. She'd heard about the case that morning and thanked God she hadn't received the call out there. "She's a gorgeous baby. What does the father look like? She has kind of dark, olive skin."

"Uh," Eric let out, tripping over his words a little because of the possible implications of the coincidence. "He died a few months ago, but uh, he was Cuban, actually."

"Oh…" Her voice softened at that, and her eyes trailed from the baby up to him. "Beautiful combination."

"Yeah," he breathed out, holding her gaze for a moment. "It is."

It was Calleigh's turn to be amazed now as Eric gently combed through Ava's hair, talking to her soothingly all the while. She had always known Eric would make an incredible father, but seeing his patience, his gentleness with a baby, was quite eye-opening. Granted, it was for trace to be used as evidence, and part of his job was to be careful, but there was something extra in his movements today. Something that she knew was solely for Ava's sake.

"Whoa," came a voice from the doorway, suddenly interrupting their moment. They both lifted their heads to find Valera, wide-eyed and stunned. "When the hell did you two run off and have a baby? And why do you have it in the lab? That _can't_ be good parenting…"

Despite the awkwardness, Calleigh simply rolled her eyes and exchanged a knowing smile with Eric. "This is Ava Lawrence," she told Valera.

Valera nodded but still eyed them suspiciously. "Well I've got some of your DNA evidence back. Most of the blood at the crime scene was indeed the vic's, but those gravitational drops were from a male. No hits on CODIS."

"Sounds like the mother may have fought back," Calleigh deduced, her eyes moving between Valera and Eric.

"We'll have to see if Alexx found signs of a struggle on the mother's body," Eric said.

As he sealed the last evidence bag and Valera left the room, his eyes drifted back to Calleigh and Ava. "Guess it's time to get her to social services. I think they're waiting in the lobby."

"Yeah, I need to get back to work on those bullets." She sighed, for once wanting to get lost in something other than work. Carefully, she transferred Ava into Eric's awaiting arms.

"Thanks for your help, Cal," Eric said, a certain tenderness in his voice. "You were really good with her."

Calleigh smiled, brushing his compliment away. "My place tonight?"

"Definitely."

* * *

The lights were dim, only a few candles creating the warm glow that encompassed the room. A half-consumed bottle of red wine sat on the table with matching wine glasses next to it, both nearly empty. Soft giggles were the only sound filling the room.

If you'd asked Eric a year ago if it was possible for Calleigh Duquesne to giggle, he'd have laughed in your face. Laugh, yes. _Giggle? _No. But now he knew better, and he knew just how to make it happen. All it took was his gentle hand to brush her blonde hair away from her neck, a few soft kisses along her sensitive soft skin, his warm breath tickling her as his lips hovered just above the skin of her neck.

She was sitting between his legs in the oversized recliner, her back pressed against his chest, their legs tangled together. He could feel her toes curl against his leg every time he created the tickling sensation along her neck. Her long-sleeve button-up had been tossed aside long ago, leaving her in only a tank top and black dress pants from work. His lips skirted across her shoulder, jumping over the thin strap of the unnecessary clothing item.

"Mmm." She laughed softly, leaning her head back against his shoulder. "Are you trying to seduce me?"

"Always," he answered honestly, drawing a smile from her lips. "Is it working?"

"Always," she echoed.

Eric grinned, tightening his arms around her waist for a moment before allowing his hand to dip beneath her top and skim the soft skin of her stomach.

"About today…," he began, resting his head against hers, his mouth close to her ear. "I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable with the whole baby thing…"

"You didn't," she assured. "It's just that I'm not a baby person…at least I wasn't…"

"What, and now you are?" He curled his hand slightly, brushing his knuckles against her stomach.

"I don't know," she admitted. Her heart pounded at her admission, still getting used to these feelings. "I mean, I always liked kids, but I never thought much about having them. But the last few years it's crossed my mind…a lot, actually."

"I think you'd be an amazing mother," he told her, his voice growing a touch softer. "I've always thought so."

"I always thought you'd be a wonderful dad." She leaned back, tilting her head up to look at him, and smiled. It had taken her a long time, but she had finally let nearly all of her emotional walls crumble for Eric. She could now speak to him like this with an ease that came only from letting someone in and dating for over a year.

Calleigh rested her hand over his on her stomach and turned her head against his chest, listening to the steady pound of his heartbeat.

"Ever think about us having kids?" he asked tentatively.

A broad smile graced her lips and she considered her words carefully. "We make a good team," she stated simply, knowing that this time he would probably make the connection. She lifted her eyes to his again and watched as realization washed over his features.

"I'm…dense, aren't I?" He chuckled softly, lowering his head to press a chaste kiss to her bare shoulder.

"I was trying so hard to give you the green light that day after I read your file, after I realized you thought like that." She laughed softly at the memory, at the drawn-out process they'd gone through to get where they were today. Smiling, she weaved her fingers between his from behind, her palm pressing against the back of his hand.

Finally, it occurred to him what she meant that day. She hadn't meant work at all. She had been thinking the way he did…about dating, possibly about settling down. All along, she had wanted exactly what he wanted.

"We do make a good team," he whispered into her ear, both of them fully aware of the implications this time.


End file.
